Loose Ends
by highmode
Summary: A simple story of how to live your life day by day, with the ones you love... and hate. How to not think too far ahead, and be true to your feelings. A few things Manjoume was never quite sure how to do.
1. Chapter One

**Notes: So I decided to re-write this story because it was full of typos, OOC, and other things. I fixed things up the best I could. I had everything written up weeks... or months ago, but I just didn't get around to posting them. I started getting on the computer less and less and things like that. **

**Anyway, I hope this made it at least a little better. XD; Thanks for reading! (PS- This is an AU.)**

* * *

**Chapter One**

A car parked right in front of a fairly new, large house. A man with neatly combed, dark hair stepped out and surveyed the area before he was quickly followed by his wife, who also had perfectly straight, black hair. The two adults both looked like they were on a business trip, so they slightly stood out from the homey looking neighborhood. They were both looking around and chatting until they saw a huge moving truck come up, the two greeted the moving men with smiles.

Young Manjoume watched his parents with a bored look, sitting in the car. So his mother suddenly got the crazy idea to move waaay out here. They were a rich family, lived in a huge house, in a super fancy neighborhood and so on. Typical rich people... well kinda. After hearing about some bad things that happened around their old home, (something about some kids fighting, Manjoume didn't know, his parents never let him hear the whole story) Manjoume's mother freaked out, and started to look at nice, _safe_ neighborhoods. She always wanted to live in a place like this. A place where she could act a little more like a normal mom, talk to normal neighbors, and things like that (she has said it reminded her of her late father). But her excuse for wanting to move? She wants her children to grow up in a nice, safe and homey neighborhood. Which wasn't a _complete_ lie (she really did care for her kids) but it's obvious the other half of the reason was just because she wanted to move to a nice, new and different house. She always did. But how homey could a house be when the parents are always away on business trips? Manjoume thought he'd never know.

Of course Manjoume didn't really mind. When he heard they were moving he really didn't care at all. His brothers on the other hand did. At first they didn't say much about it, but when they heard the house was smaller then their current one? They threw a fit.

"Seriously... How big of a house do you need?" Manjoume grumbled to himself, opening the door and stepping out of the car. He turned and stared at his new home. It was an off white and it had dark blue trim. It was a neat and tidy looking house, it was big but it didn't stand out _too_ much, but it was clearly bigger then the rest of the houses in the neighborhood. Manjoume looked to his right and he saw an almost identical house, except it had a very light lavender trim and roof? In this bright sunlight it was hard to tell. It looked as though no one bought it, yet the sign in front wasn't there... But that didn't keep the young boy's interest for long. He saw his brothers running inside to pick out their rooms so Manjoume quickly closed his car door and ran after them.

"This one should be _mine_!" Manjoume's oldest brother, Chousaku pointed into a huge master bedroom. It was an empty room of course. It had beautiful white carpet and was very spacious, with it's very own bathroom and a balcony.

"No way! That's not fair!" Shouji, middle child of the family spoke up, an upset look covered his face.

"Uuuh, won't that probably be Mom's and Dad's room?" Manjoume said, pointing out the obvious. He sometimes wondered if his brothers were was smart as everyone said they were.

Chousaku shot a quick glare at his youngest brother, trying to cover up a bit of embarrassment, before running down the hall to the next biggest room.

"Well then... _this_ one is my room." said Chousaku. It was a fairly large room, it had a built in closet and two large windows, giving a nice view of their back yard.

"Okay, then this will be my room." Shouji pointed to a room that looked close the the same as Chousaku's, seeming more content by the fact his older brother didn't get the huge bedroom.

Manjoume just gave them a slight frown and walked to the last available bedroom. It was the smallest, of course, but he was used to this kind of treatment. His brothers would fight over all the good stuff and he'd get the leftovers. After a while he kinda stopped caring about these kind of things. He thought it was too much work.

_This room's the smallest but... it'll fit all my things,_ Manjoume thought to himself, stepping into to his new bedroom. Then he noticed that off to his left, there was a balcony. He walked over and opened up the glass sliding door and stepped out onto the small wooden balcony. It probably couldn't fit more then two or three people.

Manjoume grinned to himself. _While they get all that extra space, I get this balcony. It's just like the one in Mom's and Dad's room._ With this, he was content. He didn't really _want _the balcony, but it was something he had, and his brothers didn't. Manjoume then left the room, closing the door behind him and walked down the stairs and back outside. Ignoring his brothers complaints on how "small" of a house this was.

While stepping down the stairs, Manjoume pondered why a house would have two balconies. This house was the same as the other one next door, at least it looked like that from the outside, so it had two balconies too. The younger black-hair boy thought maybe the guys that build those houses liked balconies and left it at that.

Once outside, he stood on the sidewalk by the moving truck, a several feet away from his mom, who was giving directions to the moving people. He looked around his new neighborhood. It really _did_ have a homey feeling. Smallish, cute houses were neatly aligned on either side of the street. Their yards we nicely mowed and nothing was too cluttered. Some were nicer then others, Manjoume noticed some flowers blooming in front of a few.

Manjoume turned to see two kids his age... running straight at him? One had brown hair, which was mostly hidden by his red hat, which matched his shirt. Right behind him was a much shorter kid who seemed to be having trouble keeping up. He had bright hair and small glasses on.

Manjoume frowned. He_ knew_ those kids were coming to talk to him. And he knew it would be impossible to be discreet about the whole moving thing, there was so much commotion, but even so, the black-haired boy did not want to talk to anyone new, or at least at the moment.

"Hi!" The brown-haired kid said, holding his is hand up. "Are you the one living here?" He pointed to Manjoume's new house, taking a few gulps or air. He was probably out of breath from running so suddenly.

Manjoume slowly nodded, surprised by how excited the boy seemed.

"Yeah, we just moved here." he said. To most people, his quietness didn't come off annoyed, but he seemed more nervous, or maybe even shy.

"Cool!" The brown-haired boy seemed to explode with joy, making Manjoume take a step back. "These houses were just built. It must be cool to living in a huge house!"

"Uuuum..." said Manjoume. He looked at the boy dumbfounded and wasn't sure whether to tell this kid that he used to live in a far bigger house or not.

"Anikiiiii!"

Manjoume looked right past the boy with brown hair to see a shorter boy make his way beside the two of them.

"You're... way... to fast!" The smaller boy said, using the last of his breath.

"Sorry Sho... I was just too excited!" The brown-haired boy said, flashing the one named Sho a sheepish grin. He was quickly forgiven by the younger one.

Manjoume just stared at the two. It appeared they weren't going to start fighting or anything but maybe he could still slowly slip back into his house.

But it was obvious that this kid wasn't going to leave him alone for a while more, because he immediately started talking again.

"What's your name? I'm Yuki Judai! And this is Marufuji Sho!" he pointed to himself and then over to the shorter one.

Manjoume let out a quiet sigh and looked at his feet. He felt very tired from the whole trip over here and wasn't up for talking with such a cheerful kid.

"I'm Manjoume... Manjoume Jun." The black-haired boy said.

Then, a black-haired lady walked over to the three boys, her high-heeled shoes clicking on the pavement. She set her hands on Manjoume's shoulders and by then, it was clear she was his mother. Even without this gesture, the boy and his mother looked very alike, having the same eye color and shade of skin.

"Oh! It looks like you've met new friends already! That's wonderful, Sweetie!" She smiled kindly at Judai and Sho before asking them, "What are your names?"

Manjoume mumbled something and shrugged his mother's hands off his shoulders.

"I'm Yuki Judai, and this is Marufuji Sho! It's nice to meet you, Miss!" Judai said again with a grin, pointing to himself and his shorter friend.

"My, you two boys are so polite!" She said, giving each a pat on the head. "You three become good friends, okay? I was so worried Jun might not find someone around his age here. I'm glad to see you all getting along just fine." And with that, she walked back to the house after a little wave good bye. The two boys said their good byes and turned back to Manjoume.

Manjoume didn't like the thought of becoming "good friends" with these two. In fact, he wanted to get away from them right now. He turned his head back to the house and before Judai started talking again, he spoke.

"I, uuuuh... need to go help my mom with some... moving stuff, yeah. So bye." It was a bad excuse, seeing as the moving men where doing all the work but he took off toward his house regardless, not looking back. He heard two cheerful 'See you later's before he closed the front door behind him.

Now in his new, empty room, Manjoume noticed a box or two sitting in the corner, but nothing more. He looked out the glass doors of his balcony and watched Judai run back to his house before sighing and shutting the curtains.

Moving was fine with him, but this was just what he _didn't_ want. Annoying kids for neighbors.


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

It was the first morning in his new house as Manjoume stepped out onto his porch. The sun was peaking through the clouds warming and lighting up the earth. Taking a few more steps forward, he looked to his left. The lavender roofed house still looked empty but there was still no "For Sale" sign there.

A loud voice drew his attention away from the house. He looked in the direction of the sound, and there again was that annoying boy and his little follower. He totally forgot about them! How could be so stupid as to think that they'd leave him alone.

_Well maybe if I just slowly baaack up... and go into the house again... they'll leave me alone..._

Manjoume went to turn around and saw the door open for him?! No, it's just his mom. Dang it.

"Hiiii Maaaannnjooooumeeee!"

_He just had to draw out every vowel in my name didn't he? And now that my mom's right here, I can't just walk away! _Manjoume turned away from the door and frowned like the two other boys had just ruined his plan(which they kind of did).

"...Uh, hi." He slightly held up his hand, not even taking the effort to wave. Why did they have to talk to him first thing in the morning? Wasn't it obvious to them he didn't like them? ...Apparently not.

Words just started to pour out of Judai's mouth so fast Manjoume couldn't keep up. How could he have so much to talk about with a person he just met? Manjoume really didn't understand how he could talk so fast and so much. And to make matters worse, his mother stepped out of the house. Her face was glowing with joy, so happy to see her son talking with his new 'friends' already!

The black-haired woman walked up and set her hands on her youngest son's shoulders like she always did. Why did she always have to do that? She treated him like he was 5 years old! Which he was not. Manjoume was 11 now, she knew that... right?

Manjoume, who was now contemplating how sane his mother was and if she knew his actual age, payed no mind to the conversation going on between Judai, Sho and his mother. Actually, once he snapped out of it he could care less, it sounded really boring. But what he did care about was what his mother said next.

"Why don't you got over to Judai's house for a bit?"

_There is no way I'm going to that annoying kids house!_ But contrary to what Manjoume thought, he was pulled along by the red-clad boy anyway. He really couldn't say 'No' to his mother after all.

Giving in, Manjoume sighed and freed his left arm from Judai's tight grasp. He looked up from the ground, frowning, to see a small house. The yard had little toys in it and from what he could see it looked like there was a swing set in the backyard. But he didn't get to stay outside long for Judai was urging him to come inside. He really didn't want to go in his house but followed anyway.

As soon as they stepped inside, Judai called for his mother.

"Mooooom!" The young boy called, cupping his hands around his mouth. When he heard no response after a few seconds he told both Sho and Manjoume he'd be right back before running off.

Manjoume crossed his arms over his chest and just stood there, a bored expression on his face. He really wasn't enjoying this. It was so tempting just to turn around and exit the house, but that would be rude, and his mother hated it if he was rude.

Sho on the other hand was nervous. A worried look covered his face as he looked up at Manjoume. Manjoume didn't seem too nice and he was kinda stuck here with him. If Judai was here things would be okay! He was his Aniki after all... But he couldn't stand being left alone with someone new... It was just in his nature to get a little scared.

It wasn't more than five minutes until Judai's mother's head popped around the corner. Her slightly wavy, light brown hair reached a little past her shoulders and she had her bangs pulled out of her eyes by two green clips. Manjoume thought she looked so much more... mom-like then his mom. His mom always looked like a business woman and well... that's what she was. She was much more of a business woman than a mom, at least in Manjoume's mind.

"Oh, you must be Manjoume! The new boy that just moved in!" The woman said as a smile spread across her face. "I hope you like this neighborhood just as much as your old one!"

The young boy nodded. "It's nice to meet you." He said in the most happy voice he could. He really, really wasn't used to this kind of atmosphere and it was showing.

"Oh, you're so cute!" The woman said before pulling little Manjoume into a hug. Which like everything else, he didn't like.

Manjoume just put on another quick smile before saying he should maybe go back now. Judai's mom nodded to that and told him to come back soon, smiling.

_This kid and his mom are almost the same! So excited, so happy,_ Manjoume thought exiting the house. _Why did we have to move here..._ He had grown a kind of I-don't-care attitude about everything, but now he was regretting leaving his old home so easily. _Now, I'm going to be stuck with these weirdos... Well, it's not like for the rest of my life, right?_

"Ah! Manjoume!"

The boy turned around to see Judai running out of his house. He gave Judai a questioning looked before answering, "What?"

"I was wondering... you're my age, right? So you'll be going to the same school, right?" Judai's face got a more hopeful look as he continued talking.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I probably will..." _I didn't even_ think _of that!_

"Yes! That's great! I hope we'll be in the same class!" Judai grinned.

_I don't,_ The Manjoume thought sourly. It had making him more annoyed by the second that this kid didn't understand how he_ didn't_ want to be friends with him.

"Oh! And you could walk to school with us! Me, Sho, Asuka, Fubuki and Ryo! It'll be fun!" Judai paused for a bit. "...Well Fubuki and Ryo go to the junior high school so they leave half way... but it'll still be fun!"

Manjoume was about to ask who all those people were, when he heard a female voice from behind him. Turning around there was a girl with dirty blond, almost a light brown, hair. She was wearing a long, light blue dress, decorated with a flowery pink trim.

"Hi Judai! Hi Sho! Who's this?" She asked politely, nodding towards Manjoume.

"Hey Asuka! This is Manjoume." Judai said, taking a few steps closer to Manjoume and the girl.

"He just moved into one of the new houses." Sho added.

Asuka smiled. "Well It's nice to meet you. I'm Asuka." She held out her hand.

"Ah- Nice to meet you too. I'm Manjoume." Manjoume smiled slightly as he shook her hand. She didn't seem too bad, maybe they could be friends.

Judai started in again, telling Asuka how cool Manjoume's big house was. Asuka just smiled and nodded, she didn't say a lot but she seemed really polite.

Manjoume frowned as Judai and Sho happily chatted with Asuka. He wanted to talk to her too, but cheerfully joining in on a conversation wasn't like him. Sighing, the black-haired boy turned his head and looked toward his house. He blinked a few times. Was that his brothers calling him? What would _they_ want with him?

"Are those your brothers?" Sho asked, momentarily stopping his conversation to point at two older, black-haired teens that looked a little annoyed.

"Err, yeah. I better go." Manjoume said quickly, "See you later!" He called back before running off.

* * *

Manjoume sat in his bed, rubbing his dark colored eyes. It was 7am, the time he usually wakes, but today something else woke him up. Manjoume stood up and peeked through his curtains, looking over his balcony down the street. Nothing. So maybe it was from the other side of the street. It sounded like a huge truck! A... moving truck.

After throwing on some clothes, Manjoume opened his bedroom door and ran down the stairs. Glancing around, he saw no one in the kitchen, but heard his brothers in the living room and his parents outside. Opening the front door he saw his parents talking to some people right in front of the new house, a huge moving truck behind them.

So someone _did_ buy that house.

Standing next to them was a smaller boy. Manjoume walked out onto the sidewalk wanting to see who these people were. Looking a bit closer he realized.

_My old neighbors!? What? Why are they here? Don't tell me they're seriously moving here... I mean, _we_ just moved here. Isn't that a little... strange?_

Manjoume watched the two sets of parents talk. So his old neighbors followed them? Why would they...

"It's just so wonderful that you decided to move too!" Manjoume's mother said, a smile spread across her face.

"Oh I know! I would have missed you all too much! And also, the neighborhood here is lovely!" Manjoume noted that his mom and this other lady were very much alike.

So his old neighbors copied his family and moved too? Or more like followed. Manjoume knew they were good friends but, they weren't _that_ good of friends. But then again, the both families weren't exactly your ordinary families.

"Isn't it!? I think this will be a much better environment for my children to grow up in." The lady said, brushing a bit of bright, silvery hair out of her eyes.

"I agree!" Now the man spoke, nodding his head. "And I'm sure Edo will just love it here too."

Manjoume shivered. Edo was his... childhood 'friend'. That's what their parents said, but in his mind he was more like a rival. Edo was always one step ahead of Manjoume. Manjoume was good in school but Edo always scored by at least one point higher in all his classes. Manjoume did quite well in sports but he was always second place to Edo. Thus, causing a bit of rivalry in Manjoume's mind even though no one else really thought like that. Manjoume never really liked Edo, even _without_ the little sliver-haired boy beating him in everything they did.

Manjoume's "rival" turned and started to walk toward him. Manjoume not really wanting to talk to the silver-haired boy quickly turned around, ready to go back into his house. To most people, Manjoume seemed to never want to talk to anyone but that wasn't true, he just didn't want to talk to _certain_ people and that was just mostly everyone. But instead of walking back into his house, he ran into... Judai.

Manjoume quickly lost his balance from the sudden impact. Falling was the last thing he wanted to do in front of Edo, but it wasn't like he could stop himself. He looked up, surprised but that expression quickly turned into a frown.

"...Oh. You." he said.

"I'm not 'you'! It's Judai, remember?" said Judai. The boy in red grinned, helping Manjoume to his feet again.

"So, you're name is Judai?" By now, Edo was standing right next to the two boys. His sudden appearance shocked the both of them, causing them to jump a little.

Judai nodded quickly. "And this is Manjoume!"

Manjoume silently groaned. _He knows me already, idiot._

"Oh I know him _quite _well. We grew up together." Edo lightly crossed his arms, the corners of his mouth turn up into a small smirk. Even though he was younger then Manjoume, Edo acted at least a year or two older.

"Cool! That's kinda like me and Sho! You guys must be great friends!"

"..." Manjoume suddenly wanted to smack Judai. Did the brown-haired boy really think everything in the world was great?

Not hearing a response from either the two, Judai carried on the conversation. "So, where did you guys move from?"

Upon hearing Edo's answer, the brown haired boy's eyes widened.

"You guys came from that super rich neighborhood! Wow..." Judai stared at them in amazement, Edo smiled, and Manjoume crossed his arms, an uncomfortable look on his face. He really didn't want anyone to know that, they'd probably treat him different because he was rich.

"Anikiiii!" A voice called out much like the other day. Little Sho ran up beside his 'Aniki' and put on a glare, which it turn out more like a pout. "You left me behind _again_! And-- oh! Who are you?"

Manjoume sighed, was this how he was going to start every day of his life? Waking up only to go outside and be bothered by these people. The black-haired boy made a note to make sure to stay inside for a long time tomorrow.

Edo, the one in question, smiled. "I'm Edo. I just moved right next to Manjoume."

Finding _nothing_ weird about two people moving in right next to each other in such a short amount of time, Sho let out an understanding "Ooooh" before Edo's father walked up.

With a surprised expression on his face, the man spoke. "You've made new friends _already_!? Oh! And it's nice to see you again Manjoume! Looks like you've gotten bigger!"

Manjoume nodded and silently thought, _I just saw you three days ago._

"Well, you four have a fun time playing and maybe you can come over for dinner once we finish moving in!" Edo's father said kindly. In his old neighborhood, the man was known for always inviting people for dinner. He really seemed to enjoy cooking and the company.

Judai and Sho started bombarding Edo with questions and Manjoume just wondered... how did he end up with all these people?

* * *

**Note: Another rewritten chapter done! Next chapter, they'll be a time skip of around 4 years, but I do plan to go back and tell a few events of the past in later chapters.**


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

It was almost 4 years later. Everything was completely quiet except for the chirping of the birds. The sun had just started to peak over the horizon and Manjoume, who was now 15, was still nestled in his large, fluffy blankets. The clock flicked to exactly 5:30AM and as if it had been perfectly timed, Manjoume's room door slammed open. The loud bang was followed the voice of his eldest brother, Chousaku, which was even louder then the sound of the door hitting the wall.

"Jun! It's _already_ past five! Get up right now!"

Manjoume quickly sat up knocking most of his blankets off of him, eyes wide in shock. "WHAT!?" he screamed back, "_Already_ past five!? How early do you want me up! Four!? Three!?" The younger brother said, quite irritated.

"_Obviously_." Chousaku responded in a mocking tone, "Now just get up and make some breakfast already." The older man crossed his arms, it was obvious he was annoyed and in a hurry.

Manjoume just stared at his brother in disbelief for a bit. He excepted him to make _his_ breakfast? After rudely waking him up at five when he was up till midnight studying?

"Can't _you_ make your _own_ breakfast?" Manjoume slowly asked, "Or can you not cook or something?" As he finished his sentence his frown turned into a slight grin.

"Of course I can cook, you idiot!" Chousaku started to raise his voice again. "But it's your turn to cook! So hurry up! Me and Shouji have to leave soon."

Manjoume let out a sigh and looked down. "If I remember correctly, I made breakfast for the last _week_. Just go eat some cereal or something."

Chousaku gritted his teeth before slamming the door closed and stomping off.

Sighing again, Manjoume stood up and stretched. He slowly started making his bed and once he was finished, he got dressed and ready for school. _I'm just gonna skip breakfast today... I don't want to be bugged by those guys anymore then this,_ Manjoume thought to himself, slowly packing his books into his school bag. He was so sick and tired of his brothers bossing him around. One day he'd wouldn't let them boss him around anymore but... what could he do? He _knew_ his brothers always had something up their sleeves to get him in trouble one way or another. It was so frustrating! But then again, he really should be used to this by now. If his parents were gone, and his brothers had a bad day, he'd be bullied and yelled by them for hours.

At around 6:40, Manjoume decided to just go to school early because he wasn't going to sit there for twenty more minutes doing nothing. Once out the door he threw his book bag on his shoulder and saw... Edo Phoenix.

Manjoume had an indescribable look on his face as he looked at Edo. That was one of the last people he wanted to see standing on his sidewalk first thing this morning.

"...What are you doing here?"

Edo chuckled, most likely at the expression on Manjoume's face.

"Oh, well I just though we could walk to school together, we're neighbors after all." he said, a smirk on his face.

Manjoume guessed he really didn't have a choice. "Okay..." He said, reluctantly walking down his steps and on to the sidewalk by the silver-haired teen. Usually, Edo would be at Judai's house by now with Sho, but Manjoume just figured he wanted to walk those couple steps with Manjoume to Judai's house make the black-haired boy's day worse.

Manjoume wondered if his life would even stop being so... annoying! It had barely changed since he moved. Judai was still his cheerful, childish self, Edo still beat him in school work, and his parents were always on business trips. Well, maybe _some_ things got better. He had taken quite a liking to talking to Asuka's older brother, Fubuki, but other then that? Nothing. Actually, his brothers actions towards him seem to get _worse._ He wouldn't be surprised if they hit him someday. Maybe it was because they were working now in the same company as their dad, Manjoume really didn't know.

"So... what was all that commotion this morning?" asked Edo, pulling Manjoume from his thoughts

Manjoume blinked and then looked to the side. _Damn, I was really hoping he hadn't heard that... _

"It's nothing." Manjoume said quickly. He knew it was a stupid answer, but what else could he say? He wasn't in the mood to talk about his brothers.

"Well it didn't _sound_ like nothing." Edo's smirk faded.

"Well it _was_ nothing." Manjoume insisted, glaring.

Edo stared at Manjoume and Manjoume stared right back. He wasn't going to lose to Edo, at least not in this little battle.

Then Edo shrugged, closing his eyes. "If you insist." He said lightly, seeing that slightly older boy wouldn't tell him anything.

The two continued their very short walk to Judai's house before Edo stopped right in front of it. Manjoume on the other hand, kept walking, hoping Edo wouldn't ask any more questions. Of course, Edo seemed to notice everything and Manjoume didn't get far without the sliver-haired teen saying something.

"Where are you going?" asked Edo, wondering why the heck Manjoume was acting so weird. The two really didn't get long much, but they knew each other almost all their lives, so Edo noticed when someone was wrong with the angry teen.

Manjoume slowly turned around and answered, "To School. Where else?"

"Why aren't you going to Judai's house like we do _every_ day?" Edo frowned.

"Because..." Manjoume started, his eyes flicking back and forth as if he was watching out for something, "I don't want to."

Edo shook his head and sighed. Manjoume was never easy to deal with when he was in a bad mood, you could never get a word out of him. Just waiting to walk to school with Judai couldn't be that bad could it? Yeah, the kid was always a little happy and cheerful but how could that possibly make Manjoume mood worse could it?

The front door of Judai's house swung open and the brown-haired teen ran out at full speed, saying bye to this mother. Manjoume considered just running for it and avoiding everyone, but it was a little too late to do that.

"Why are you guys so early!? It's not even 7 yet!" Sho said, shoving something into his back pack and zipping it up.

Edo shrugged, "It wouldn't hurt to get to school early once and a while."

Sho grumbled, "We get to school in plenty of time everyday!" The short teen paused for a moment before continuing, "Well unless Judai sleeps in or something..."

Judai let out a little laugh and Edo just shrugged again.

The group of friends start to walk, but at a boringly slow pace. Manjoume's eye twitched. Could they possibly go any slower!? Even and 80 year-old person could beat them to the school and back with _ease_! Manjoume started to pick up his pace, making it to the front of the group.

"Come on!" Manjoume told everyone behind him, "At this pace, you guys will take _years_ to get to the school!"

As excepted, the group complied and speed up. Manjoume turned his eye's up to the sky. It looked like to today was gonna turn out just like every other day.

Asuka peaked out her front window to see Judai and the others walking up her driveway. Surprised to see them here so early, she decided to go right out and greet them.

"Judai's already here, Fubuki! I'll be waiting outside for you!" She yelled to her older brother and just got a surprised, muffled reply.

Grabbing her things and closing the front door behind her, Asuka walked up to the boys, curious to why they were here so early, she asked them, "Why are you all here so earl--"

A loud band and a scream cut her off as the group looked back at the house. Manjoume, Judai and Edo looked disturbed and Sho looked just terrified.

Finally, after a few minutes of silence, "...Did someone _die_ in there?" Judai dared to ask, pointing at the house.

The blond girl sighed. "Um, no. Actually, my brother woke up late today and when he heard you guys where here earlier then usual he freaked out even more... Sorry for the wait but he should be out soon."

Manjoume nodded, that seemed like something Fubuki would do. He was considering going in there to tell Fubuki he could take his time but for some reason he decided against it.

Judai and Sho let out nervous laughs as Edo looked at his watch.

"We're still ahead by 20 minutes so we have plenty of time." Edo told Asuka, "He really doesn't need to hurry like that."

Asuka nodded and opened her mouth to speak but this time, the group saw Ryo walk out of the house right next door. They all watched the older teen calmly walk to the Tenjoin's house and walk inside. There was a few more bangs, some talking, and then complete silence. Everyone looked at the house in fear.

Then emerged Ryo, followed by a very frazzled Fubuki. Leave it to Ryo to get Fubuki under control. The dark brown-haired teen apologized for being late, but everyone told him it was fine before continuing on their usual route to school.

--

Manjoume sat down in his seat for first period, math. Getting out his math books and a pencil the teen rested his head on his hand and glared at the person in front of him. The person that sat right in front of him just had to be Judai. Judai would often turn around and start talking to him for some reason or another, which would cause both of them to get in trouble, when Manjoume was obviously doing nothing. It was bad enough he had to sit by Judai, as it was. Manjoume was surprised his parents had yet to hear about that but also glad. Manjoume causing trouble in school? His family might explode hearing that news.

Manjoume turned to his right to see Misawa writing down a some kind of long equation on a piece of paper. Misawa used to be the top student in the grade, always getting 100 percent on all his tests. That is, until Manjoume and Edo showed up. It frustrated Misawa to a certain extent to see all his hard work just shoved aside and replaced by two new students. It started in 5th grade when the two new boys showed up and amazed all the teacher by their excellent skills. Of course, Misawa didn't dwell on it that much any more, he had more important things to think about. Like his equations. Manjoume and Edo may be good, but someone would have to notice his great skill someday.

Class was about to start as Manjoume noticed Asuka walk in. She was talking with Ryo and her brother just moments before.

And now Manjoume frowned, troubled. Asuka was always talking to Ryo and Fubuki. He didn't get it! Why did she always talk with them, but not him? Sure, Fubuki was his brother and she had lived by Ryo most of her life but that didn't matter too much right? ...Okay maybe it did, but the only time he ever got to talk with her was in the mornings as they went to school, and maybe at lunch. She had other friends she liked to hang out with, so she didn't always stay with their little group and it made Manjoume a little upset.

A bell sounded through out the school, telling everyone it was time for class to start and they should all be in their seats.

A teacher came in and passed out piece of paper to everyone. It was a pop quiz. Most of the class started to moan and complain but Manjoume smirked.

"Ha! I'll ace this thing easily!" He said aloud with confidence.

"That may be so, but for sure, _I_ will get the highest score." Misawa said, a smirk also on his face.

Manjoume just scoffed and said, "If you say so."

Misawa sat right behind Sho, which was to the right of Manjoume. Misawa would never give up although everyone paid attention to Manjoume more then him, and Edo ever more then Manjoume. Edo was quickly admired as one of the smartest people in the grade, and sometimes the school! Manjoume, of course, was second to him. Thus, all of this leaving Misawa in third. But Misawa never gave up! He kept on studying and trying to beat them in some way. On small quizzes like this, all three often tied.

But the smartest out of the whole _school_? It was Marufuji Ryo, no doubt. Some people wonder why he's still in high school and not already out in college. After that was the guy who called himself the 'prince' of the school, Tenjoin Fubuki. Manjoume, while he _did_ admire Fubuki, still couldn't comprehend how someone who just doodles all over his papers got such high scores .

--

A loud bell rang out, indicating it was time to leave. Judai let out a cheer as he usually did and stuffed his papers and books messily into his bag. He was in the middle of being scolded by Sho to not be so messy when Edo walked up to the two. Before long the usually group of friends were crowded around Judai's locker like they usually were.

Edo adjusted his book bag on this shoulder before he spoke, "My father invited everyone for to dinner... _again_. Would you all like to come?"

Judai, Sho and Fubuki automatically cheered a 'Yes!' while Asuka and Ryo said that it would be fine with them. Then Edo turned his gaze over to Manjoume, who was still thinking.

_My brothers will be upset if they come home to no dinner but if they manged to make their own breakfast and live, they can make their own dinner. So I guess I'll go with these dorks._ Having decided, Manjoume said he'd come along as well, following the group out the door.

--

"Hey Mooooom! Me and Sho are going over to Edo's for dinner, okay?" Judai yelled in his door as he and Sho threw their bags into the house, and after hearing an okay for his mom, Judai slammed the door shut before rejoining with his friends.

_Does he always have to be so_ loud_!? He is never quiet, I swear!_ Manjoume fumed to himself.

Ignoring Manjoume's obvious anger, Edo turned to Ryo, Fubuki and Asuka, and asked, "Would you guys want to go back to drop off your things?"

The two Tenjoin siblings smiled and said they were fine and Ryo silently shook his head.

And of course, it wasn't long before the group of teens entered the large house of Edo's. They were greeted by the delicious smell of dinner cooking, and saw snacks sitting out on the table.

While Manjoume was indeed quite hungry, there was one thing he didn't like sitting at the table. Manjoume looked like he just saw a food he really didn't like, but instead it was Edo's friend, Saiou.

Now Manjoume didn't hate Saiou or anything, he was a polite young man but... he just felt uneasy around him. Saiou was originally Edo's babysitter when he was younger. Edo's parents, much like his own, would be off at work most of the day, so they had arranged that Saiou would take care of Edo when they were gone. Edo liked Saiou right away and it was almost as if Saiou was Edo's older brother. To Manjoume it was almost scary... His first meeting with the older one was cut short because Edo pulled Saiou back inside to play more. A little Edo was an over protective Edo, Manjoume guessed. But in the end, all Manjoume knew was that Edo was _very_ attached to Saiou. He never knew how to act around the guy.

Manjoume watched everyone sit down at the table before he took his own seat right in between Fubuki and Asuka. Edo right away sat by Saiou and started telling him something or other. The sliver-haired boy did always seem most relaxed around Saiou, but it was quite the opposite for Manjoume.

Sigh and laying his head on the table, Manjoume just listened to Fubuki's random babbling until dinner was ready.

Dinner had been _quite_ interesting, Manjoume thought, slowly eating his dessert. Fubuki almost started a food fight by "accidentally" throwing some vegetables in Manjoume face. Judai was all for the idea but then Edo got angry at them all.

Speaking of Edo, Manjoume just noticed him slip out of the kitchen into the living room. But Manjoume really didn't care, he just shrugged it off and reached across the table to steal some of Judai's dessert while he was distracted talking to Sho.

In the living room, Edo, with homework papers in hand, walked up to Ryo. The older boy had skipped out on dessert because he said he didn't like sweets much.

Stopping by the couch, Edo looked at Ryo, who quickly noticed the other's present and gave him a questioning look.

Edo held out a piece of paper and asked, "Ryo, can you help me on this...?" He felt like smacking himself when his voice came out quieter then he meant. He was never good with this asking stuff, he had never asked anyone for help on homework before! And only _Ryo_ could help him on this. If Edo couldn't figure it out, who could? He was never really too keen on the idea of asking the oldest Tenjoin sibling for help, their personalities never went well together, so Ryo was the only choice. Not that he _didn't_ like being around the older, taller teen, he actually often found himself wanting talk to Ryo, but never knew what to say.

Ryo gave the younger boy a slight questioning and surprised look before the expression on his face turned into a small smile. Nodding Ryo took the papers and started to explain the math problem.

"Do you get it now?" Ryo asked, after he went through the problem once with Edo.

"Yep." Edo said, taking the papers and standing up. "Thanks!"

"Anytime." Ryo said, standing up as well. He figured that everyone was probably done with dessert by now.

The two silently entered the kitchen. They never really talked to each other much, but they seemed to get along well.

"Thank you for the dinner! It was great!" Ryo and Edo were greeted by Judai's loud voice as they entered the kitchen.

"Come over anytime!" Mr. Phoenix smiled as he replied, "You're always welcome here!"

"Ah! Aniki! We should get going now!" Sho tugged on Judai's shirt.

Asuka spoke up. "Yes, it is getting late." She turned to Edo's father. "And thank you again for the dinner."

The six teens walked out the door, all of them saying their thank yous. Edo, his father and Saiou waved them all goodbye. Over the chattering as the kids walked out the door, Edo heard a loud scream of 'Aaaah! I forgot we had homework!' from Judai, some scolding from Sho and a laugh from Manjoume.


	4. Chapter Four

**Note: Quite a pointless chapter I suppose. I might have taken it out but decided against for some reason.**

* * *

**Chapter Four**

It was Health class, the most boring class in the whole school. It had to be, or at least Manjoume thought so. And there he was, stuck here right before lunch, ignoring the teachers speech and just watching the clock tick.

_Can't they just end the class early? It's obvious everyone is dying to get out of here. Well, except maybe Misawa. He's the only guy that _doesn't_ hate every class in school._

Manjoume glanced over at Misawa to find him writing something down on a piece of paper. Manjoume sighed and turned his attention back to the clock.

It was Thursday, and the next week was Spring Break. This made time seem to go slower for everyone (minus Misawa) as they stared at the clock. Most of them were convinced that time could not go any slower.

Manjoume felt a small poke in the back of his head. He ignored it. He felt it again, and then a third time. Containing a growl, Manjoume turned back in his seat, glaring daggers at Judai. He gave him a look that read 'What the hell are you doing!?'.

Judai just simply tossed a paper airplane in Manjoume's face. Confused, Manjoume gave Judai a suspicious look and took the paper airplane. He saw some writing scribbled down on the inside so he unfolded the plane and read the contents.

It was a note asking Manjoume to go to Judai's house after school with Sho and Edo. Usually going over wouldn't bother Manjoume _that_ much but... he just went over to Edo's for dinner _yesterday_. Obviously, Judai didn't understand the meaning of wanting alone time.

Manjoume just stared at the paper, before shoving the paper into his pocket. Of course he'd go, Judai already knew that answer. He _always_ went, regardless of how much he seemed to not want too. But the one thing that baffled Manjoume was, why the heck didn't Judai just ask him this at lunch?

Finally, the bell rang and kids ran out of their classrooms so they could go eat lunch. The lunch room was packed with kids in seconds as they grabbed their trays and got in line. Manjoume, being one of the many people who didn't pack their own lunch got in line as well, followed by Judai, Sho and Misawa.

Waiting for the lunch line to advance, Manjoume glanced over to see Ryo grab bread and some type of drink. _Does that guy ever_ _eat? _Manjoume thought, watching the tall teen walk over to a table where Fubuki, Asuka, and Edo sat.

Manjoume plopped down in a seat, right across from the Asuka. He sighed looking at the good looking meals that Asuka and Fubuki were eating before glancing back down at his own plate. The food didn't look appetizing in the least. Manjoume slowly looked back up as more people sat themselves at the table.

"Edo, why do you never get up to get lunch?" Misawa asked, sitting down at the table.

"I make my own lunch, _obviously_. I dislike the school lunches here." Edo said, taking out his homemade lunch. "It's not that hard really. Asuka and Fubuki do it too." The sliver-haired teen seems slightly annoyed by the question, but in truth, he was covering up the fact he _didn't _make his own lunches, his father did. Edo's father loved doing things for his son, and was glad to hear that Edo would still allow him make his lunches.

"Making your own lunch isn't the greatest thing though," Asuka said with a sigh, "But I have to make both mine and Fubuki's. Fubuki's cooking can turn out a little... weird."

Fubuki threw his arms into the air. "It does not!"

The majority of the table burst out laughing, including Fubuki.

Manjoume sipped on some of his juice, wondering if he should make his own lunch, but in the end, that'd just be another thing to do on his huge list of chores, so he decided against it. After listening to some of the groups crazy chatter, Manjoume considered moving to another table, but he never did. Lunch just wouldn't be the same without them.

--

School was over and everyone gathered around Judai's locker as usual. It being Thursday, the two Tenjoin siblings went ahead of everyone because they had their weekly music lessons, and Ryo went home, even though he was doing nothing. Judai _had_ offered for the older teen to come to his house, Ryo declined. Manjoume wondered if the only reason Ryo stayed around them was because of Fubuki.

The small group made it to the house in no time, and we're greeted by Judai's mother as they entered.

"Oh, it's so good to see you all!" The brown-haired lady said, giving each of the boys a hug. "I was just about to make some snacks for you. So why don't you wait up in Judai's room while I prepare them, okay?"

The boys said their hellos and followed Judai up to his room. Judai's room was a mess as always. Sho seemed used to it though and took a seat on the floor right in front of a small T.V. Manjoume sat down on Judai's unmade bed and Edo sat on a small chair in the corner of the room. Judai switched on a game and sat next to Sho.

"You guys _need_ to play this new game I got yesterday!" Judai said, handing each person a controller, "It's a really fun fighting game. All of us can play."

In minutes, all the boys were wrapped up in the game. Manjoume cursed under his breath as his character on the screen had fallen once _again_. Judai was a master at the game of course, and each time they started the level over it went in the order of first Sho's character would die, then Manjoume's and then Edo's. Judai seemed almost unbeatable until all other three players teamed up against him.

"Judai! The snacks are ready!" Ms. Yuki called to Judai.

Judai jumped up, dropping his controller. "Finally!" The boy yelled, running out of the room.

Sho was quick to follow and then Edo. Manjoume looked back at the T.V. screen, their characters just standing there, before he bent down and turned the console off.

In the kitchen, Edo was putting on his polite and nice (or as Manjoume called it – smiley) act for Judai's mother as they snacked. But as soon as the brunette lady finally left the kitchen Judai pulled out his homework.

"Manjoume, Edo... I need your help on this homework." Judai asked as he slightly smiled.

"Is _that _why you forced me to come over h--" A sigh. "...Fine fine, let me see it." Manjoume grabbed the note book from the boy and pulled out a pen.

"...Well you gave up quick." Edo pointed out.

"I'm used to this, okay?" Manjoume shot a glare at the shorter teen before explaining to Judai how a few of the problems worked. Once Judai _finally_ got it, Manjoume leaned back in his chair. He thought about the first time they started doing this, Judai would come running to him when he needed help with his homework.

It was fall, they just entered 6th grade, and Manjoume had only known this overly happy boy for half a year. He was sitting at his desk, finishing up his math homework when he heard something outside. At first he had thought it was a bird (or some other small animal) up on his balcony. He got up and opened the curtains to see... Judai!? He jumped back in shock before regaining his composure and opening the glass sliding door.

"What the hell are you doing up _there_? A- and how did you _get_ up there!" Manjoume had said, surprised.

Judai grinned, "It was really easy to climb up here... It was actually kinda fun!"

Manjoume just gave Judai a doubtful look before letting him in his room. Judai started looking around right away, he had never been over to Manjoume's house, let alone in his room. It was a neat and tidy room, pale colored carpet and walls, a huge closet taking up most of one wall, and his bed and desk against another. There was also a bookshelf and something that looked like a dresser by that. The whole room was far larger then Judai's and he was kind of amazed.

"So..." Judai stopped staring at the room for a moment, "Err.. Will you help me on my homework? That math is reeeeally hard."

Manjoume sighed, "Is that what you're here for? Why do you think I'll help you?" He glared at Judai.

"You're the only one I can ask! Come on, please?" Judai pouted a little at how stubborn Manjoume was being.

"Fine." Manjoume frowned, and held out a hand, "Show me your homework."

Manjoume smirked to himself. Ever since then, if Judai wanted to see Manjoume, instead of knocking on the door he'd come in through the balcony. Except for some exceptions... but if it was early in the morning or late at night, he'd use the balcony for sure.

Manjoume's eyes flew open as a notebook flew in his face, almost causing him to fall backwards. As the note book fell back onto the table, Manjoume saw a mildly upset looking Edo.

Manjoume blinked a few times before he ask,"Why the heck did you do that?" Manjoume's eyes narrowed.

"I was trying to get your attention." Edo simply stated.

Judai and Sho began to laugh as Edo repeated, he was just trying to get Manjoume's attention, smirking.

Manjoume growled and opened his mouth to yell at Edo but Judai's mom entered the room seconds before he could say anything, oblivious to the fight that was just about to start.

"Sorry to interrupt your little study session, but would you boys like to stay for dinner?" she asked, a smile spread across her face.

It was an automatic yes from Sho of course, but Manjoume said he'd pass. After all, his brothers would most likely throw a fit if they came home to no dinner again.

"I'll go call my mom!" Sho announced, nosily getting up from his seat.

"I'll walk over to my house and tell my dad I'm staying here for dinner." Edo calmly told Mrs. Yuki while picking up his homework.

Manjoume collected his things as well. He was really ready to leave the house. He couldn't wait for some quiet time in his room, alone.

Saying his good byes and thank yous, Manjoume quickly made his way out the door. He wasn't a even a few feet away from the house when Judai opened the door and told him, "See you later!"


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

A lunch tray was slammed down on the table, almost spilling its contents. Only once he had everyone's attention, did Judai speak, "You guys..." he started off, most dramatically.

Every person at the table had their eyes locked on the red shirted brunette. Was Judai mad? And was that even _possible_?

The boy took in a deep breath, before shouting. "IT'S FRIDAY!" And throwing his arms into the air in a childish manner.

Everyone was silent. A some people let out a few giggles, Manjoume growled, but Fubuki let out a whole hearted laugh.

"Yes it is!" Fubuki said when he was done laughing. "Does that mean anything special? Other than spring break?"

Judai took a seat. "Well yeah.. That's what I was gonna say. I'm so excited!"

Sho let out a sigh, "Aniki! Even though it is spring break, we still have homework to do." Sho pushed his tray of lunch food out into the middle table so he could rest his chin on the table, pouting. "It's not fair, I want a break!"

"Haha, the homework isn't that hard, Sho!" Misawa said as he sat his own tray of food onto the table. "It shouldn't take more then a day or two to do." He finished with a smirk.

"Yeah maybe for _you_." Sho mumbled, burying his face into the arms of his red sweatshirt.

The table was filled with a slight momentary silence as Judai stuffed his food into his mouth, Manjoume, Edo, Asuka and Misawa ate like normal people, Fubuki was trying to force feed Ryo some of his food and Sho was covering his face, with his arms. No real conversation going on. To anyone who didn't know them, they looked like a very odd group of people.

"Hey," Judai took a large gulp of his juice, "We should have a super sleep over!"

Sho looked up at Judai was Manjoume looked at Judai as if he was crazy.

"A super _what_?" asked Manjoume.

"A super sleep over." Judai stated, acting as if people talk about 'super sleep overs' everyday.

Manjoume glared at Judai. There was no way, no way at all, he was going to let Judai ruin his _wonderful_ spring break with a sleep over. The group of friends had never ever _had_ a sleep over all together despite them knowing each other for years, and Manjoume didn't mind that at all. He never imagined Judai would get the idea for a sleep over but he was wrong.

"Well if you want to have a sleep over, first you need to decide went you want to have it." Asuka calmly told Judai.

"Umm..." Judai frowned as he thought, "Tonight!?"

"No way." Manjoume said.

"Okaaay, then tomorrow! Let's have it then." Judai said, excitedly jumping out of his seat.

"I already have a sleep over planned with Junko and Momoe," Asuka started, "But you guys can go ahead and have a sleep over of your own."

Sho slowly sat back up and turned to Judai, an upset look on his face. "Aniki, where will we _have_ the sleep over then? Your mom won't let that many people stay over at your house."

"Urgh, you right." Judai's look dropped but then lighted back up again, "I know! We can stay at Manjoume's place."

"I may have the house to myself this week, but you can't just bust in there and have a sleep over!" Manjoume growled. He wanted his house to _himself_ the one time both his parents and brothers were going to be out at work for a while.

"So, we'll have it at Manjoume's house!" Judai declared.

"No, you cannot!" Manjoume glared daggers at the boy but it didn't seem to have much of an effect.

"Yes! We will!"

"No you won't!" The two boys were now screaming at each other from opposite sides of the tablet.

"Yes!"

"No!"

"YEEEESSSS!!"

"...Judai you will not have a party at my house or I'm gonna--"

Edo just closed his eyes and sighed as the two boys broke into a fight.

--

Saturday morning and it was completely silent. Just the way Manjoume liked it. No parents, no brothers, no annoying alarms. Nothing. Manjoume sat up in his bed and stretched, letting his eyes slowly adjust to the bright sunlight that was peeking though the curtains. But then he heard it. That dreadful sound of the door to the balcony, sliding open.

"You can't be serious." He growled under his breath.

Judai took a step in the room and looked around. He was wearing his favorite red hat. "Manjoume, are you here?"

"Yes I am, but what are _you_ doing here!? I was trying to have a peaceful day for _onc_--" Knowing he was being ignored, Manjoume stared at Judai as he causally walked over to his desk and started pulling open draws. Taking out papers, small notebooks and other little things.

"JUDAI!" In once swift motion, Manjoume boy jumped out of bed and grabbed the book out of Judai's hand. "What the heck do you think you're _doing_!?"

Judai turned his brown eyes up at his friend. The smile never fading from this face. "I was just wondering what was in there."

As usual, this only added to Manjoume's rage. He smacked Judai on the head with the book he had just taken back, and started pushing Judai out of his room.

"Get out of my room and go wait in the kitchen or something!"

"Okay okay, you didn't have to hit me." Judai pouted as he made his way to the first floor of the house. He wondered why Manjoume had to be so violent sometimes.

Shutting the door behind Judai, Manjoume sighed as he got dressed and ready to face his overly cheerful friend. He couldn't believe Judai just went and ruined the first day of his spring break like that. He wanted to sleep in for once. But Manjoume knew thinking about how much better this morning could have been, would get him no where.

"So your parents _and_ your brothers won't be here for the week?" Was the first thing Judai said when Manjoume entered the large kitchen.

"Nope," Manjoume said, reaching into his refrigerator and pulled out a small can of juice. He shot Judai a suspicious glance. "Why are you asking?"

"Because, I--"

The sound of the door bell rang out through the (almost) empty house. Manjoume, who was sipping on his juice, walked over to the door and opened it. Neither of the boys said anything when Manjoume saw Fubuki, Misawa and Sho standing at his doorway.

"What the heck...?"

"Hey guys!" Judai ran up to his friends as they invited themselves in the house and closed the door behind them.

"Judai..." Manjoume said in a low voice.

"Huh? What is it?" Judai asked, turning toward Manjoume. That _annoying_ cheerful face aggravated Manjoume even more.

"Did you... seriously... invite... these people... for a sleep over? At _my _house?"

"Yeah! I _told_ you your house was the only place we could have it!" Judai looked slightly sad, as if he was excepting Manjoume to be overjoyed when he saw these people over at his house.

"Judai you are so--"

Just then, the door flied open to reveal Edo and Ryo.

"It's so nice for you to invite everyone over, Manjoume." Edo smiled as he and Ryo entered the house.

"I didn't invite _anyone_ over!" Manjoume practically screamed, not believing Judai actually invited all these people over to his house. "Damn it Judai... What are you people going to do here anyway?"

"Have a sleepover, it's it obvious?" Edo says in a mocking tone, which only earned him a very angry glare from Manjoume.

"Well... You have video games, right?" Judai asks excitedly.

A moment of silence. "...Yeah yeah, they're in the living room, you guys can go start them up."

There's a few cheers as the group of people ran into the living room, ignoring Misawa's mention of how they should do their homework first. And Manjoume, admitting his defeat, sighed and followed them.

--

"I'm hungry."

"Go eat something then. There's plenty of food in the fridge."

"Can we--"

"No."

"Please!"

"_No_."

"Oh come on Manjoume, let's just go out somewhere for lunch." Edo says at last, not wanting Judai and the black-clad boy to get into a fight again.

A sigh. "Fine." said Manjoume as he set down his controller.

Sho jumped up, dropping his game controller. "We should go get ice cream!"

"That's not a lunch." Ryo states.

Then Fubuki stood up, and dramatically yelled, "We should eat lunch at the sandwich place, and then stop for ice cream on our way back!"

Mostly everyone agreed, as they started to tidy up the mess of games and controllers on the floor.

--

On the way back from lunch and ice cream, everyone was chatting, talking about things like maybe what they want to do later in the week or just something random. They were in a slightly busy part of the town, lots of people walking here and there, most of them walking to get something to eat, probably ice cream, now that the weather had warmed up a considerable amount. However, as they started to cross the bridge that made a walkway over a small and shallow creek Fubuki jumped up on to the railing, teetering dangerous as he walked.

"Stop doing that or you're going to fall." Ryo says bluntly. He wasn't surprised when Fubuki quickly shook his head no.

"I'm fine!" But upon saying those words, he starts to lose his balance. Grabbing on to the closest thing to him, which happened to be Manjoume, he cried out for help.

"M-Ma-Manjoume, help meeee!" A few passer-bys glanced up from their daily actives to see where the yell came from.

Manjoume looked over a Fubuki, a little scared, "Okay, okay! But how am I supposed to help."

"Just do something!" Fubuki cried out, slipping dangerously closer to the river by the second.

Manjoume grabbed onto Fubuki's hand, trying to pull the older teen back up. "You're too heavy! I can't!"

There were two screams and both Manjoume and Fubuki fell over the bridge and into the water, making a huge splash.

Judai and Sho ran up to the edge of the bridge seconds after the two had fallen, surprised they actually fell into the creek. Edo and Ryo stood back, Edo seeming a little annoyed by all the attention Manjoume and Fubuki were bringing.

Judai burst into laughter as Manjoume and Fubuki sat in the water, almost completely wet.

Narrowed, glaring, black eyes met with slightly amused brown ones. "Why did you have to pull me into the river with you!?" Manjoume yelled. He really liked Fubuki, he really did, but sometimes he just couldn't believe the things the guy did.

Fubuki couldn't help but laugh. "Sorry, sorry!" Fubuki said, patting Manjoume on the head, but only caused Manjoume's hair to get wet.

Grinning, Manjoume shoved a good amount of water into Fubuki's face, and that triggered a water war between the two. More people gathered around the bridge by the second, watching the two as they, oblivious of all the people, attacked each other.

Ryo just shook his head before walking off the bridge and onto a bit of dry land, right next to the river. "You two, get out." A pause. "Now. Before even more people start gathering around."

Fubuki nodded understandingly as he ran over to his tall friend. Manjoume just mumbled something to himself, trudging out of the cold water, feeling slightly embarrassed about everything that just happened.

Wringing out his dark blue shirt Manjoume walked over to the group. They all decided to stop by Fubuki's house to get some dry clothes for him, before going to back Manjoume's. Manjoume really didn't care, he just didn't want to be soaking wet any longer, nor have all these people staring at him like he was completely insane. But thankfully that is was sunny, or he might have froze to death. Manjoume, Fubuki and the rest of the group made their way to the Tenjoin house, ignoring (or trying to ignore) the stares they were getting from the people passing by.

--

"I can't believe you actually fell into a _river_." Asuka sighed shoving a towel into her brother's hands. "And that you pulled Manjoume in with you!" She gave the black-haired boy a sympathetic glance. "Should I get you a towel too?"

Manjoume shook his head, "No, I'm fine." Maybe he _would_ have liked a towel, but he didn't want to trouble Asuka any further.

"Sorry Sis... I really didn't mean to!" Fubuki gladly took the towel and started to dry off his hair.

"If you _meant_ to I'd be seriously angry with you." The younger Tenjoin sibling sighed again, feeling quite guilty about her brother bothering people again. "I'm sorry, you guys."

"It's quite alright." Edo smiled, putting on his polite act again. "We're not bother to _you_ at all by coming here, are we?"

Asuka let out a small laughed, despite the guilt she was just feeling. "Oh no, I'm just getting ready to go over to Momoe's house."

And with amazing speed, Fubuki was already back from his room, now dressed in a light colored jacket, a soft blue t-shirt and dark blue jeans. He practically hopped over to the group of people, announcing he's back.

Manjoume blinked. _I didn't even notice __him leave t__he room!_ He thought, before shaking a few strands of black hair from his eyes and said goodbye to Asuka with everyone else.

Within minutes, the group of teens were back at the Manjoume residence. Opening the door to his house, Manjoume sighed and headed straight to his room, he didn't care what the others did or if he had anything to entertain them with, he was still soaked and he needed to change. Closing his room door behind him, he quickly changed into dark colored jeans, a long-sleeved black shirt and put a light, thin, short-sleeved blue button up shirt over that. He didn't even mind to button it before opening his door and peaking down stairs to see what they all were doing.

...Homework. Up until now, Manjoume had completely forgotten they had homework to do!

The black-haired boy quickly grabbed his books and papers and decided to join them. Making his way downstairs, he already saw Judai complaining on how the homework made no sense at all and Edo trying to help him and was failing at it. Misawa was doing his homework with amazing speed while Sho on the other hand was struggling. Lucky for the short teen, Ryo decided to help him out a little with his homework by just giving him a few hints. And Fubuki... was just doodling.

Manjoume sat down with the group, thinking about _he_ had forgotten about his homework. _These guys sure know how to distract me_. Manjoume smiled slightly. He wasn't sure how he'd survive the rest of the day (and night) with these distracting people, but he'd manage somehow.


	6. Chapter Six

**Note: Now, for certain reasons, I am changing accounts... If you're interested in my new account, please just check my profile. **

**Also, I have come to the conclusion that I won't be continuing this story, despite that I have most of it planned out. I just can't find the will to continue, and I also find it boring, seeing as though it has no plot. I'm sorry to anyone looking forward to me writing more on this, but I just can't at the moment... I may decide to start it up again in the future, even though that's doubtful... For now, I'll just mark it was "complete". A great big thank you to all who read and reviewed!**

* * *

**Chapter Six**

The room was dark, the only source of light was a television that had a movie on pause. Judai poked his head into the room, readied the bag of popcorn in his hand, and threw it into the small group of people.

There was a shout heard, followed by a growl. Judai cringed, knowing he had indeed hit Manjoume with his popcorn. Judai crept into the living room but he did not go unseen. A pillow was stuffed into his face as soon as he took his seat on the floor next to Sho. Judai screamed as Manjoume continued to attack him with various pillows.

Ryo, ignoring the loudness of the other two boys, grabbed the video player's controller and pushed play. This got immediate silence from the whole group. Any conversations were dropped, and the fight between Judai and Manjoume was forgotten.

Judai had brought the video (one of those scary movies), thinking it'd be a perfect way to spend the rest of the sleepover. Manjoume didn't care, Edo looked oddly nervous, Fubuki couldn't wait to start watching it but Sho looked absolutely terrified but was trying to look brave enough to watch it regardless. But at the moment, Sho dropped all attempts so look dignified or brave. The short boy was screaming and crying into the back of Judai, who was laughing.

"Aniki! It's not funny!" said Sho, between screams and cries whenever a monster or some type of distorted creature came on the screen.

Judai let out a laugh again.

"They aren't real, Sho." Judai ruffled his friends bright colored hair, "Don't be so scared."

"B-b-but!" Sho whimpered, " They're still scary!"

Manjoume crossed his arms over his chest, never looking away from the television screen.

"They don't even _look_ real. So stop crying and be quiet." said Manjoume.

Sho shot a glare a Manjoume but jumped and hid his face in a pillow when another monster popped onto the screen.

"I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight!" he screamed.

On the other side of the group, Fubuki was also screaming. Of course, not in the way Sho was. He was screaming fake, almost girly-like screams and clinging onto Ryo's arm. Ryo tried his hardest to pull his strange friend from his arm but Fubuki had a scarily tight grip. Blinding his vision with a pillow did the trick though. Once Fubuki was caught off guard Ryo finally freed his arm.

Now there was also Misawa. Misawa at the beginning of the movie kept on making annoying comments and telling everyone how things like this could not scientifically happen in real life. After about 30 minutes of that, he got a very hard smack on the head from a pillow Manjoume was holding.

Edo on the other hand was completely silent. Almost _scarily_ silent. He was just sitting a little towards the rear of the group of people, clutching a pillow close to his chest. Every time a creature made it's way onto the screen of the TV, Edo would just flinch. Not even jump, just flinch, making no sounds. Edo had always thought he was very good at acting and he was almost proving it. In truth, he was actually scared. Not as scared as someone like Sho, but still scared none the less. He knew that they looked fake, like Manjoume pointed out, and he knew of course that they weren't real, but they still scared him! Glancing up at the screen, Edo was relived to see that everything looked relatively peaceful. But after a few minutes of suspenseful silence, Edo started to get suspicious.

_Now at any second, another one of those stupid monsters are going to pop up, _he thought. Edo's hold on his pillow tightened, bracing himself for what would happen next.

Of course, a monster _did _pop up. But it was by far one of the scariest, most real looking creatures on the movie yet. Edo probably only would have jumped back but Judai, Sho, and Fubuki let out extremely loud screams, shocking him, causing Edo to almost scream as well.

Suddenly, the movie was on pause and Manjoume stood up.

"You guys!" he growled, "If you scream like that it'll sound like people are getting _killed_ in here! And I seriously don't want the neighbors coming over here to find a bunch of weirdos in _my _house!"

"B-but," Judai started to laugh again, "That was so scary it was _funny_!"

Manjoume stared at Judai in a disbelieving way.

"Only _you_ could find something so scary that it's funny."

Sho sighed. "I hate to agree with Manjoume, but he's right, Judai. That was not funny in the least. It was downright scary!"

"I don't care if it was funny or scary, just all of you shut up! And I know you've been screaming too, Fubuki." said Manjoume, who sat back down.

Within seconds, the movie was back on play and Edo decided to take a great interest about how many pillows Manjoume's house had.

--

The next morning Manjoume woke up and looked around the room. Everyone was still sleeping in the pile of blankets and pillows they decided to call beds. Manjoume stood up and then heard the sound of someone cooking breakfast?

_If everyone is asleep, then who the heck is cooking breakfast!_

Running into the kitchen, Manjoume found Edo and Ryo. Cooking breakfast.

Totally baffled at the sight, the black-haired teen wasn't sure whether to start laughing or be scared. In the end, he just silently sat down at the table.

"Good Morning, Manjoume." Edo said, turning around and smiling a very icy smile. "Breakfast will be ready soon, so be patient."

Manjoume then knew very well not to comment on how Edo was cooking breakfast unless if he wanted a knife thrown at his head.

Nodding, Manjoume looked down at his hands on the wooden table. _Why did they decided to randomly take over my kitchen and make breakfast fast? _Manjoume though. _We could have easily had cereal... _but upon remembering how much Edo disliked cereal, the conversation with himself ended.

After hearing some sounds of rustling, Fubuki emerged from the living room.

"Manjoume! You're already awake!" said Fubuki, who took a seat next to Manjoume and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

Manjoume put on a frown but did nothing.

Fubuki now looked up to Ryo and Edo finishing breakfast. A devious grin grew on his face.

"I always knew you loved to cook Ryo!" Fubuki called out to the other boy.

Ryo said nothing, just continued to prepare the meal, but was glaring all the time.

Manjoume looked back and forth at the two older boys, a confused and plain weirded out look on his face. He decided that it must be some kind of joke be between them, or Fubuki was just being silly.

--

Manjoume's eyes fluttered open and the first thing he saw was the words "Game Over" plastered on his T.V. screen. Sitting up, Manjoume remembered he had stayed up all night, trying to beat this stupid game Judai had lent him. The game was just too hard, it was impossible to beat, so he ended up falling asleep on the living room couch.

Standing up, Manjoume looked at the soda can that was left on the living room floor along with an empty bowl. It was Saturday, that meant Manjoume's parents and brother would be home _today_ and he needed the house in top shape for when they came home.

The teen crossed his arms and frowned. He didn't understand why this house always had to be so spotless. It was so aggravating! Even when his brothers had a _week_ off, he was left to all the cleaning and cooking.

Manjoume kicked the near by soda can out anger, but his eyes widened as he saw the sticky liquid spill on Shouji's DVD player. Cursing, Manjoume ran into the kitchen to grab a towel to clean up the mess.

Once he got _that _mess cleaned up, he started in on sweeping the kitchen floor. but then accidentally tipped over a cup of water. Growling, Manjoume started to wipe up the spill. Once he was done cleaning up _that_ mess he quickly stood up, but that only resulted in him hitting his head hard on the bottom of the table.

Sighing, Manjoume could see this day turning into a bad day already. He dropped the broom, put on his shoes, and walked right out the door. The look on his face was obvious he was distressed and was trying to use this walk to cool his head.

By the time he was past the Tenjoin's house, Manjoume was making a mental list of the things he needed to do by the end of today. Clean the house, make a dinner, go shopping for said dinner, study some more... Even though he had already finished all his homework for Spring Break, he had to study to get top grades. Manjoume's irritation began to grow. His family put him under so much pressure all the time. His m(?) excepting perfect grades, his mother wanting him to take over the family business with his brothers, and his brothers, constantly watching every little more he made, making sure he did everything perfect, but never good enough to surpass them in anyway. And he listened to all of it. He became one of the best students in the school, and made his family proud.

Manjoume made his way to the local park and took a seat on a swing the moment he got there. He looked around at all the little children, pulling their parents to the next toy, their faces full of joy.

Starting to swing, Manjoume though that all this family stuff was annoying. He just wanted to forget all of it but he _couldn't. _And here he was, wasting his time on a _swing_.

"It must look so stupid, someone my age _swinging_." Manjoume said out to himself, black eyes glance up toward the large, blue sky.

"Hmmm... How so?" At the sound of the new voice, Manjoume had to bite his tongue in order to not let out a yelp. Whipping his dark eyes to the side he saw someone he really didn't except to see.

"Fubuki!?" Was the most intelligent thing Manjoume could think of at the moment. Dragging his black shoes in the sandy dirt, he slowly came to a stop.

"I come here all the time. Even if you aren't a kid anymore, swinging can still be fun, feel nice, and a wonderful way to spend you time! We all gotta be kids sometime, right?" Fubuki continued speaking, being either oblivious to Manjoume's shock or just ignoring it.

Manjoume's eye browns turned up in confusion as he started at the other boy.

After getting no response out of the younger, black-haired boy, Fubuki held up a small bag and just grinned.

"And um... what's that?" Manjoume wasn't planning on saying anything but it seemed that Fubuki wasn't going to either.

"I was on my way back home from getting this when I saw you here! So I decided to come hang out with you for a while, know you?" Fubuki set the bag down in his lap so he could point to the swing Manjoume was sitting on.

"That is my favorite swing to sit on but this one's pretty good too I suppose." He shrugged, acting like it was normal to talk about swings like this.

"...Huh?" Manjoume was absolutely baffled.

"Oh yeah!" The Fubuki's sudden outburst shocked Manjoume. "This was some stuff I got for Asuka! She was studying so hard today I just had to get her some of her favorite sweets! She's such an adorable little sister..." Fubuki looked down at the bag of sweets as if he was looking at a picture of Asuka.

Manjoume just nodded a couple times, unsure of what to say.

"I also got some for myself," Fubuki looked over to Manjoume. "But I didn't think and got way to much. Wanna come over a eat them with us?"

Manjoume's black eyes looked up at the grinning brunette, then away, before looking back again.

"Sure." he said.

"Okay! Then let's go!" Fubuki jumped right up, and grabbed Manjoume's arm, practically dragging the other to his house.

"Woah! H-Hey! Stop dragging me!" The Manjoume couldn't help but laugh though. Fubuki seemed to always know the perfect things to do do cheer him up. Even if he had no idea he was doing it.


End file.
